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USB

When you care enough to send ... something

It's not unusual for companies to recycle their marketing pitches for Valentine's Day, desperate to clear inventory that didn't sell over the holiday season. But some are stretching the concept of romantic gifts to ridiculous extremes.

We thought an e-book reader was an odd choice, not to mention the ill-advised "Sonic Bomb" Valentine. But then we heard of Lexar's idea to engrave its $73 "JumpDrive Lightning" with some romantic message.

"Pre-load it with a few of your significant other's favorite love songs. Throw on some photos of the two of … Read more

Gibson riffs on USB

Loath as we are to admit it, we've developed something of a weird fascination with USB keys. Partly because we're amazed at how many companies spend so much time and effort on this commodity technology.

Our reponse? To write about yet another one, of course. But this one's different, really. The Gibson Signature Series "Les Paul Standard Flash Drive" offers only 1GB of storage but is a miniature replica of the famed guitar whose name is almost synonymous with early rock and roll, according to Uber-Review. Another USB key offered the Les Paul name but … Read more

The USB duck dock

No offense to the waterfowl lovers among us, but we feel the same way about ducks as we do penguins. (Sorry, Caroline.) So it is with some irritation that we pass along news of SolidAlliance's four-port USB hub for ducks. Well, duck-shaped USB keys, anyway. We don't really know what to think of SolidAlliance. What would possess a company to go from making "gold" USB keys to duck docks? We wouldn't be surprised if 'gwins were next.

Sansa vs. the Shuffle

As we've seen in Las Vegas and elsewhere recently, SanDisk's Sansa is coming out with some of the more innovative and practical personal technologies--a combination that seems increasingly rare these days. The latest example is the "Sansa Xpress," which Chip Chick says has every reason to give the iPod Shuffle a run for its money with 1GB of memory, a 15-hour battery, built-in microphone and FM tuner. We think the best feature is its direct USB connection, but that may be because we have a thing for SanDisk's design sense (and the Xpress' $60 price … Read more

The ultimate limited edition--yours

If you're not a huge fan of Bill Gates or Michael Dell, then whose signature should adorn your personal technology? Why, your own, of course--and you don't have to break the bank doing it. As Chip Chick points out, you can get a custom-engraved USB drive for $15 to $70 (512MB to 4GB) from Pexagon. You can further personalize your key from an assortment of colors, including black, gray, blue and, of course, pink. After all, as Time pointed out last year, the most important person is you.

Even Dupont gets into the USB game

Now this is hitting a bit too close to home. Some of us here at Crave have long been cigar smokers (before it became fashionable), and we have an appreciation for lighters, cutters and other accoutrements from S.T. Dupont. But a USB stick?

Granted, as these things go, Dupont's memory drive has one of the more attractive designs with an updated version of its signature diamond-head pattern and made of palladium, as are its smoking accessories. But still. It's enough to make one switch over to Dunhill.

The never-ending USB chain

There must be something in the air today--or, more accurate, in the ground. Only minutes after we posted an item about a robotic snake, another item of serpentine nature slithered across our screen.

Memory Infinite has developed interlocking USB storage devices that can be combined to add capacity as needed, as seen on Yanko Design. This is particularly useful if you have only one port available for a USB plug, and you can coil them around to suit your desktop space needs. And if you collect enough of them, maybe you can make them into a makeshift "Slinky."… Read more